Cutch is clutch! Andrew McCutchen delivers walk-off homer against Cards
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
The race is officially on in the National League Central.
In one of the wildest and most entertaining games of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied not once, not twice, but three times to defeat the first-place St. Louis Cardinals. All-Star Andrew McCutchen eventually delivered the knock-out punch, connecting for a two-run walk-off homer in the 14th inning to give Pittsburgh the 6-5 victory and cut the Cardinals division lead to 3 1/2 games.
The game was basically a test of Pittsburgh’s resilience, with St. Louis putting the pressure on at several points during the game. Impressively, Pittsburgh had a response each time. After falling behind by three early, the Pirates battled back in regulation. A.J. Burnett actually started the comeback with a solo home run off John Lackey, and then Pittsburgh finally evened things in the eighth.
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In the 10th, Mark Reynolds hit his second homer of the game to give St. Louis another lead, only for Pittsburgh to rally on Jung Ho Kang’s triple and Chris Stewart’s RBI single.
In the 14th, St. Louis went ahead again on Jhonny Peralta’s RBI single, but that only set the stage for Mr. Clutch, Andrew McCutchen.
For McCutchen, the walk-off homer was the fifth of his career. Only Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Ralph Kiner — each with six — have more in Pirates history. More importantly, it gave Pittsburgh nine wins in 11 games during July, and now puts them squarely in the Cardinals rear-view mirror with one more game on Sunday.
MARK BUEHRLE WINS 10…. AGAIN
For the 15th straight season, Mark Buehrle has earned double-digit victories. The 36-year-old left-hander picked up No. 10 with seven innings of two-run ball in Toronto’s 6-2 win against the Kansas City Royals.
The victory extended Buehrle’s streak, while also snapping Kansas City’s six-game winning streak. As always, Buehrle was efficient and pitched to contact. The result was just two strikeouts, but also zero walks. Kansas City managed just five hits and scored single runs in the first and seventh.
For Toronto, the baseball was flying on a humid afternoon. Edwin Encarnacion and Danny Valencia each homered in the game, accounting for five of their six runs. Jose Reyes notched three stolen bases in the win.
The only downside was Josh Donaldson being forced from the game with flu-like symptons. His status for Sunday’s game in unknown, but he should have no issue appearing in Tuesday’s All-Star game.
MATT HARVEY BEATS D-BACKS WITH ARM AND BAT
Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. That’s exactly what Mets right-hander Matt Harvey did on Saturday, pitching seven innings of two-run ball while always producing his own offense. Harvey connected for a go-ahead, two-run home run off Arizona’s Patrick Corbin — the first of his career — and that provided the difference in New York’s 4-2 win.
Coming off a rough start last Saturday in Los Angeles, Harvey struggled to get on track early. Arizona took advantage in the first, plating two runs on David Peralta’s home run, but missed a big opportunity in the second. From there, Harvey took command and finished strong.
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Overall, Harvey struck out nine and walked four. The walks are something of a concern considering he had five last time out, but he was able to overcome it. He’ll enter the All-Star break at 8-6 with a 3.07 ERA.
JUNGMANN DOMINATES THE DODGERS
How good was Milwaukee Brewers rookie Taylor Jungmann on Saturday night?
He did something no Milwaukee starter has done since Ben Sheets in 2001 by throwing a complete game in his debut season. Jungmann needed just 100 pitches to almost completely shut down the Dodgers offense. He allowed just one run on three hits as his Brewers cruised to a 7-1 victory.
Here’s another interesting fact.
The 25-year-old right-hander is making quite an impression. With those seven starts now in the books, he’s 4-1 with an outstanding 2.15 ERA. His seven strikeouts on Saturday were a season high. Otherwise he’s struck out four or five in each of his outings. His string of walking one or two continued with two.
Jungmann also had one hit and scored one run in the win. Carlos Gomez led the offense with two doubles and five RBIs. Gerardo Parra contributed three hits, including a homer and double.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
